Definitions
Surprised or caught off guard.
Word origin
From Middle English abak, from Old English onbæc, equivalent to a- (“towards”) + back. Compare West Frisian tebek (“aback”, adverb, literally “to/at back”), Swedish tillbaka (idem.).
Used in a sentence
“Then stopped, and bounded aback, and away as if in fear, / That I saw her no more; then I wondered though sitting close anear / Was a she-wolf great and grisly.”
“hoyed aback o' the fire”
“There are so many canes upon Reliance that the labourers could not cut those aback, as they prefer cutting those in front. The cane fields aback were in cultivation last year.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Taken by surprise”5 letters
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